Incinerators



March 22, 1966 p, C, MOORE-s 3,241,504

INGINERATORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. l5, 1953 United States Patent O 3,241,504 INCINERATORS Peter C. L. Moores, Park Royal, London, England, assignor to Pemberton & Sturgess (Great Britain) Limited Filed Get. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 316,297 7 Claims. (Cl. 110-7) The invention relates to incinerators and particularly to incinerators for use within a building, as, -for example a hospital, where waste material which is frequently wet has to be burnt.

Incinerators are generally constructed for combustion to take place in a zone near the bottom of lthe incinerator so that as the material burns, more material is fed into the combustion zone by gravity. Heretofore, however, incinerator construction has permitted the gaseou-s eiiluent lfrom the combusted material to pass through the mass of uncombusted material in the incinerator before being drawn out the flue. As the gaseous effluent passes through the uncombusted material, it is cooled and form-s Smoke which subsequently issues yfrom the flue. This is especially true when the material to be burned is wet.

Obviously, the lformation of lange quantities of smoke billowing from the flue of an incinerator is disadvantageous. It may even require that the incinerator be shut down if located in an area which has been zoned with smoke restrictions.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an incinerator which minimises this disadvantage.

According to the invention an incinerator comprises a combustion chamber shaped to facilitate movement of the material to be burnt towards a combustion zone and means for removing the gaseous effluent from the combustion zone without passing through any appreciable amount of unburnt material.

The heating in the combustion zone may be effected by tubular or jet members for directing a stream of hot air to initiate combustion in the zone.

In one construction, the incinerator is provided with an outlet or flue which at one end, opens directly and immediately into the combustion zone, said outlet or llue being provided with means effective to suck substantially all gaseous products of combustion directly into the outlet or flue.

Thus, the means for removing the gaseous elliuent from the combustion zone may comprise blower means disposed within or adjacent to the flue of the incinerator and adapted to create in the incinerator a Iforced draught drawing the eliluent from the zone of combustion without permitting it to come into Contact with the unburnt mass of material inthe combustion chamber.

By such means, the gaseous euent emerges from the combustion zone into the flue of the incinerator in a heated condition and without having contacted the unburnt material in the chamber which would have the effect of producing smoke.

The invention is illustrated iby Way of example in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a sectional view of the combustion chamber of the incinerator and of the means for removing the gaseous eluent products of combustion;

FIGURE 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow A on FIGURE l with the combustion chamber removed;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view in side elevation illustrating the heater of the subject invention with the end caps removed from the body portion;

FIG. 4 is an exploded top plan view of o-ne half of the heater shown in FIG. 3, the components being drawn out on their common axis; and

FIG. 5 is a view in end elevation of the body portion of the heater shown in FIG. 3 with the end cap removed.

p 3,241,504 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 In the drawings the walls of the combustion chamber 1 are shaped to Afacilitate a downward movement of the material to be burnt towards a combustion zone 1a. The flue outlet 4 is disposed .adjacent the combustion zone 1a, and is so shaped as to accommodate the tubular body 2 of a heater. Forming part of the`body 2 is a nozzle 3. Air is forced by means of a fan through the body 2 of the heater, is` heated by the elements of the heater and is directed into the combustion zone `1a through the nozzle 3. The hot jet of air so delivered ignites and maintains in combustion the material in the combustion zone. Gaseous products of combustion pass directly into the flue outlet 4, and are there subjected to the effect of residual heat emitted from the tubular body 2 of the heater. j

A nozzle 5 delivers forced air from a fan 5a into a venturi section 6 of the ilue outlet passage 7 thus increasing the movement of the combustion gases from the combustion zone 1a, o-ver the heater body 2 and thence into the Hue outlet passage 7.

Thus, the material to be burnt can be quickly subjected to a high temperature by means of the jet of hot air issuing from 4the nozzle 3 and immediate combustion effected. Without allowing cooling of the combustion gases by passage through unburnt material, the gases are passed at slow speed over the heater body 2 which emits considerable residual heat.r Carbonaceous particles or other solid matter consumed in the gases and the nal effluent is then forced through the venturi section o-f the flue into the flue `outlet passage to be mixed with pres- 1szlurised air from the fan 5a and passed into the external A high degree of control of gas movement is necessary for the success of this operation. With access door 8 of the combustion chamber closed and hearth 9 adjustable so as to provide an unbroken base, that is to say, a base without any openings through the base, a jet of air is delivered through the nozzle 3 of the heater and is so restricted as to produce a high temperature primary local combustion, and to maintain a slow exit speed of the efuent, so that the fullest secondary combustion of the etil-uent may be effected by the residual heat from the tubular body 2 of the heater.

The hearth 9 of the combustion chamber is made up of a series of pivotal slats which, when closed, vform an unbroken base. For the removal of ash a lever 10 pivots the slats at 9a into an upright position allowing the rash residue t-o pass into an ash drawer 10a below. By the withdrawal of the entire set of slats from t-he base of the combustion chamber, all residual matter in the combustion chamber as, for example, incombustible matter, may be dumped into the ash drawer.

T-he heater illustrated in FIGURE 3 comprises a thin gauge tubular steel bod-y |11 having a middle part y12, and external nozzle 3. On each side of the part 12 its a ceramic coated tube 14 which houses a helical heating element 15 on a ceramic former 16.

As an alternative, in cases where greater emission of heat from the body is required, the tubular body y11 may be constructed entirely of la ceramic substance.

Caps 17 are litted at each end Iof the tubular body 1-1, having duct connections 18 from the fan unit 5a. The main body of the heater lies in the lower part of the ilue exit, with the nozzle 3 directed into the combustion zone 1a whilst the end caps 17 are :outside the hue exit.

Air from the fan unit 5a enters the tubular body 2 from both ends, passes over the heating elements 15 and is directed into the nozzle 3 through the middle part 12. The heat and air movement are adjusted to produce a jet of suiciently high temperature to initiate and maintain combustion.

lAs the material in the combustion zone is burnt away more material feeds down under gravity into the cornbustion zone, the downward movement being facilitated by the shape and disposition of the walls of the combustion chamber 1.

I claim:

1. A-n incinerator comprising, in combination, a combustion chamber, walls for said chamber mutually inclined to and shaped to facilitate a downward movement of the material to be burned towards a combustion zone at the bottom of said chamber, -a ilue extending upwardly and to the rear of said chamber, a flue outlet disposed adjacent said combustion zone, a heater disposed in said flue outlet, said heater including a thin gauge tubular steel body having a middle part and a ceramic coated tube on eachside of said middle part housing a helical heating element on a ceramic former, said heater adapted to direct .air under pressure into said combustion zone to ignite land maintain combustion of the material in said com` bust-ion zone, the combustion gases thereby passing slowly over said heater to absorb residual heat from said heater so that solid matter in said combustion gases is consumed and gaseous eluent passed out through said flue, whereby said gaseous eluent does not contact a substantial portion of the uncombusted material in said combustion chamber and said iiue is :thereby substantially free of smoke.

2. An incinerator comprising, in combination, a combustion chamer, walls yfor said chamber mutually inclined to and shaped to facilita-te a downward movement of the mate-rial to be burned towards a combustion zone at the bottom of said chamber, a ue extending upwardly and to the rear of said chamber, a flue outlet disposed adjacent said combusti-on zone, a heater disposed in said flue outlet, said heater including a tubular ceramic body having a middle part and a ce-ramic coated tube on each side of said middle part housing a helical heating element on a ceramic former, said heater adapted to direct air under pressure linto said combustion zone to ignite and maintain combustion of `the material in said combustion zone, the combustion gases thereby passing slowly over .said heater to absorb residual heat from said heater so Ilthat solid matter in said combustion gases is consumed vand gaseous eiliuent passed out through said flue, whereby said gaseous eluent does not contact a lsubstantial portion of the uncombusted material in s-aid combustion chamber and said ilue is thereby substantially free of smoke.

3. An incinerator comprising: a combustion chamber adapted to receive material to be burned, a flue Outlet provided near the bottom of said combustion chamber, closed flue means extending upwardly from said ue outlet, electric heater means provided in said iiue outlet, said heater means including nozzle means and blower means for producing .a jet of hot air, said nozzle means directing said hot air jet into said combustion chamber, said hot air jet igniting and maintaining combustion in a localized zone .in substantially cl-ose spaced relationship to said heater means, and means for causing the gaseous eluent of said combustion reaction to .pass directly from said combustion zone to said flue outlet, whereby said gaseous eliuent does not contact a substantial portion of the uncornbusted material in said combustion chamber and said flue is -thereby substantially free of smoke.

4. An incinerator according to claim 3, wherein the bottom of said combustion chamber includes an adjustable hearth adapted to provide said combustion chamber wtih an unbroken base.

5. An incinerator according to claim 4, including an ash-drawer disposed beneath said adjustable hearth, said adjustable hear-th comprising a series of adjacent pivotal slat members, and including means adapted to pivot said Slat members into a closed position to form an unbroken base, and into an open position, permitting uncombustible material to pass into said 4ash drawer.

6. A-n incine-rator according to claim 1, wherein said heater is fitted with cap members at each end thereof, and wherein said middle part includes a nozzle extending therefrom in a directi-on toward said combustion zone, said caps being connected to blower means whereby air is passed over said heating elements and directed in-to said nozzle.

7. An incinerator as claimed in claim 3 wherein said flue is formed as a venturi and wherein said blower means also create a forced draught from the combustion zone of the incinerator t-o the iue outlet, thereby drawing the gaseous effluent from the zone of combustion into the iiue without permitting it t-o come inlto contact with a substantial por-tion of the unburnt mass of material in the combustion chamber, and thus without producing smoke.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 790,418 5/1-905 Apfel 110--8 X 1,137,424 4/ 1915 Ricketts 1212-2 X 2,014,455 9/1935 Schwab 219-19 2,470,880 5/ 1949 Zimbel-man et al. 158-116 2,678,009 5/ 1954 Blum et al. 110-18 2,763,760 9/1956 Buckle 110-18 3,151,581 10/1964 Resek 110-.8

FOREIGN PATENTS 121,442 6/ 1901 Germany.

FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner.

JOHN J. CAMBY, JAMES W. WESTHAVER,

Examiners. 

3. AN INCINERATOR COMPRISING; A COMBUSTION CHAMBER ADAPTED TO RECEIVE MATERIAL TO BE BURNED, A FLUE OUTLET PROVIDED NEAR THE BOTTOM OF SAID COMBUSTION CHAMBER, CLOSED FLUE MEANS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID FLUE OUTLET, ELECTRIC HEATER MEANS PROVIDED IN SAID FLUE OUTLET, SAID HEATER MEANS INCLUDING NOZZLE MEANS AND BLOWER MEANS FOR PRODUCING A JET OF HOT AIR, SAID NOZZLE MEANS DIRECTING SAID HOT AIR JET INTO SAID COMBUSTION CHAMBER, SAID HOT AIR JET IGNITING AND MAINTAINING COMBUSTION IN A LOCALIZED ZONE IN SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSE SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO SAID HEATER MEANS, AND MEANS FOR CUASING THE GASEOUS EFFLUENT OF SAID COMBUSTION REACTION TO PASS DIRECTLY FROM SAID COMBUSTION ZONE TO SAID FLUE OUTLET, WHEREBY SAID GASEOUS EFFLUENT DOES NOT CONTACT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF THE UNCOMBUSTED MATERIAL IN SAID COMBUSTION CHAMBER AND SAID FLUE IS THEREBY SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF SMOKE. 